Khaled Sheikh Mohammed to be Sent to Gitmo

The 9/11 mastermind and uncle of Ramzi Youssef is to be sent to Guantanamo where he'll be subject to a military tribunal:

Sept. 6, 2006 — ABC News has learned that President Bush will announce that high-value detainees now being held at secret CIA prisons will be transferred to the Department of Defense and granted protections under the 1949 Geneva Conventions. It will be the first time the Administration publicly acknowledges the existence of the prisons.

A source familiar with the president's announcement says it will apply to all prisoners now being held by the CIA, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept.11 attacks, and senior al Qaeda leader Ramzi Binalshibh.

The source says there are "about a dozen" prisoners now being held by the CIA.

Allah points out that it is a shrewd move by Bush. This is a thought echoed by others. Some aren't so sure.

I'm for this for several reasons. It has been known we had Mohammed and Binalshibh. It was also known that we were keeping them at secret prisons thus subjecting us to the rendition allegations. By sending these terrorists to Gitmo, we can have a somewhat open, transparent case where the public can be kept up-to-date.

Secondly, when Bush goes to congress and asks for tribunals, the anti-war types that populate the donk side will have to give an up or down vote.

Update: The AP originally headlined this story with this:

Bush plan would withold terror evidence

Now it is using a headline that reads:

Bush acknowledges secret CIA prisons

Here's John Kerry's reaction:

"Today the administration finally recognized that the protections of the Geneva Convention should be applied to prisoners in order to restore our moral authority and best protect American troops," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "Today's shift in policy follows the sad legacy of five years during which this administration abused our Constitution, violated our laws and most importantly failed to make America safe."

As for abusing our laws, I don't believe--as I'm reasonably sure most Americans don't--that these terrorists are covered by our Constitution. They are not American citizens, they are murderers who have killed for no other reason than they hate infidels. I'm trying to find the subtle nuance in Kerry's words but I guess I'm just not enlightened enough.

I wonder how Kerry can say with a straight face that what the president has done has not made us safer. Here's Bush about what our methods have stopped:

Defending the prison program, the president said the questioning of these detainees has provided critical intelligence information about terrorist activities that has enabled officials to prevent attacks, including with airplanes, within the United States. Other attacks thwarted through intelligence gathered in the program include a planned strike with an explosives-laden water tanker on U.S. Marines at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, an attack with car and motorcycle bombs on the U.S. consulate in Karachi, and a plot to fly passenger planes into London's Heathrow Airport or Canary Wharf, Bush said.

That seems like alot to me, Senator. It hasn't made us safer though. At least we didn't raze villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan...